The above site has been set up by the Ministry to support Middle leaders. I have cut a couiple of examples from the site.
Reflective discourse and learning interactions in the classroom
What the research tells us
“By reflective discourse we mean classroom discussions during which three conditions frequently occur: students express their own thoughts, comments and questions rather than recite a textbook exposition; the teacher and individual students engage in an extended series of questioning exchanges that help students better articulate their beliefs and conceptions; and student/student exchanges involve one student trying to understand the thinking of another.” Van Zee, E & Minstrell, J.Reflective discourse: developing shared understandings in a physics classroom
“Engaging students in reflective talk can help them change their minds…. how patterns for reflective talk can support both the sustained, non-evaluative exploration of difficult material and the self-scrutiny necessary for acknowledging the implication in cultural inequalities…..In the case of college-age thinkers, patterns for sustained, collaborative reflection can constitute a much-needed tool for evaluating conflicting realities.” Chandler, SReflective Discourses in the Classroom
“Teachers should begin to think about how they mete out responsibility for spoken and written discourse in the classroom. Research indicates that most teachers initiate and sustain a question-answer-evaluation pattern. Unfortunately, this pattern may also condition students not to ask questions, and to believe that the only circumstances under which they should write is when a teacher asks them a question.” Brodkey, LThe Context of Cooperation in Academic Discourse
Messages from practice
“I had to learn to change the way I questioned students – I needed to start asking questions that required my students to think further about something or to explore the learning goal. I had to seek clarification, elaboration, justification and explanation of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of things.”
Pause for thought
As a middle manager:
Have you discussed techniques of effective questioning with teachers in your department?
What strategies do you have in place for encouraging students to use the correct academic language of your content area, and for learning and assessment generally?
Try this
Have teachers in your department reflect on how much time students spend in class talking about their learning, compared to listening to the teacher or engaging in silent work.
Watch and discuss the video clip: Encouraging students to use language of learning on the Making Language and Learning Work 1 - Maths and Science DVD (1:57 – 12:55)
Assessment for learning should be part of effective planning of teaching and learning
A teacher's planning should provide opportunities for both learner and teacher to obtain and use information about progress towards learning goals. It also has to be flexible to respond to initial and emerging ideas and skills. Planning should include strategies to ensure that learners understand the goals they are pursuing and the criteria that will be applied in assessing their work. How learners will receive feedback, how they will take part in assessing their learning and how they will be helped to make further progress should also be planned.
Assessment for learning should focus on how students learn
The process of learning has to be in the minds of both learner and teacher when assessment is planned and when the evidence is interpreted. Learners should become as aware of the 'how' of their learning as they are of the 'what'.
Assessment for learning should be recognised as central to classroom practice
Much of what teachers and learners do in classrooms can be described as assessment. That is, tasks and questions prompt learners to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills. What learners say and do is then observed and interpreted, and judgements are made about how learning can be improved. These assessment processes are an essential part of everyday classroom practice and involve both teachers and learners in reflection, dialogue and decision making.
Assessment for learning should be regarded as a key professional skill for teachers
Teachers require the professional knowledge and skills to: plan for assessment; observe learning; analyse and interpret evidence of learning; give feedback to learners and support learners in self-assessment. Teachers should be supported in developing these skills through initial and continuing professional development.
Assessment for learning should be sensitive and constructive because any assessment has an emotional impact
Teachers should be aware of the impact that comments, marks and grades can have on learners' confidence and enthusiasm and should be as constructive as possible in the feedback that they give. Comments that focus on the work rather than the person are more constructive for both learning and motivation.
Assessment for learning should take account of the importance of learner motivation
Assessment that encourages learning fosters motivation by emphasising progress and achievement rather than failure. Comparison with others who have been more successful is unlikely to motivate learners. It can also lead to their withdrawing from the learning process in areas where they have been made to feel they are 'no good'. Motivation can be preserved and enhanced by assessment methods which protect the learner's autonomy, provide some choice and constructive feedback, and create opportunity for self-direction.
Assessment for learning should promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed
For effective learning to take place learners need to understand what it is they are trying to achieve - and want to achieve it. Understanding and commitment follows when learners have some part in deciding goals and identifying criteria for assessing progress. Communicating assessment criteria involves discussing them with learners using terms that they can understand, providing examples of how the criteria can be met in practice and engaging learners in peer and self-assessment.
Learners should receive constructive guidance about how to improve
Learners need information and guidance in order to plan the next steps in their learning. Teachers should:
pinpoint the learner's strengths and advise on how to develop them
be clear and constructive about any weaknesses and how they might be addressed
provide opportunities for learners to improve upon their work.
Assessment for learning develops learners' capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self-managing
Independent learners have the ability to seek out and gain new skills, new knowledge and new understandings. They are able to engage in self-reflection and to identify the next steps in their learning. Teachers should equip learners with the desire and the capacity to take charge of their learning through developing the skills of self-assessment.
Assessment for learning should recognise the full range of achievements of all learners
Assessment for learning should be used to enhance all learners' opportunities to learn in all areas of educational activity. It should enable all learners to achieve their best and to have their efforts recognised.
The above site has been set up by the Ministry to support Middle leaders. I have cut a couiple of examples from the site.
Reflective discourse and learning interactions in the classroom
What the research tells us
“By reflective discourse we mean classroom discussions during which three conditions frequently occur: students express their own thoughts, comments and questions rather than recite a textbook exposition; the teacher and individual students engage in an extended series of questioning exchanges that help students better articulate their beliefs and conceptions; and student/student exchanges involve one student trying to understand the thinking of another.”Van Zee, E & Minstrell, J. Reflective discourse: developing shared understandings in a physics classroom
“Engaging students in reflective talk can help them change their minds…. how patterns for reflective talk can support both the sustained, non-evaluative exploration of difficult material and the self-scrutiny necessary for acknowledging the implication in cultural inequalities…..In the case of college-age thinkers, patterns for sustained, collaborative reflection can constitute a much-needed tool for evaluating conflicting realities.”
Chandler, S Reflective Discourses in the Classroom
“Teachers should begin to think about how they mete out responsibility for spoken and written discourse in the classroom. Research indicates that most teachers initiate and sustain a question-answer-evaluation pattern. Unfortunately, this pattern may also condition students not to ask questions, and to believe that the only circumstances under which they should write is when a teacher asks them a question.”
Brodkey, L The Context of Cooperation in Academic Discourse
Messages from practice
“I had to learn to change the way I questioned students – I needed to start asking questions that required my students to think further about something or to explore the learning goal. I had to seek clarification, elaboration, justification and explanation of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of things.”Pause for thought
As a middle manager:Have you discussed techniques of effective questioning with teachers in your department?
What strategies do you have in place for encouraging students to use the correct academic language of your content area, and for learning and assessment generally?
Try this
Have teachers in your department reflect on how much time students spend in class talking about their learning, compared to listening to the teacher or engaging in silent work.Watch and discuss the video clip: Encouraging students to use language of learning on the Making Language and Learning Work 1 - Maths and Science DVD (1:57 – 12:55)
Links to more resources
Exploring Language - Talk in the Classroom - a discussion about power relationships and questioning from the English Online websiteHow did classroom talk affect students’ learning - from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, United Kingdom
The use of reflective journals in senior English - an article by a New Zealand teacher who used reflective journals to raise student achievement for the English achievement standard 2.6
The 10 principles: Assessment for Learning
Last updated: 18 June 2007Assessment for learning should be part of effective planning of teaching and learning
A teacher's planning should provide opportunities for both learner and teacher to obtain and use information about progress towards learning goals. It also has to be flexible to respond to initial and emerging ideas and skills. Planning should include strategies to ensure that learners understand the goals they are pursuing and the criteria that will be applied in assessing their work. How learners will receive feedback, how they will take part in assessing their learning and how they will be helped to make further progress should also be planned.Assessment for learning should focus on how students learn
The process of learning has to be in the minds of both learner and teacher when assessment is planned and when the evidence is interpreted. Learners should become as aware of the 'how' of their learning as they are of the 'what'.Assessment for learning should be recognised as central to classroom practice
Much of what teachers and learners do in classrooms can be described as assessment. That is, tasks and questions prompt learners to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills. What learners say and do is then observed and interpreted, and judgements are made about how learning can be improved. These assessment processes are an essential part of everyday classroom practice and involve both teachers and learners in reflection, dialogue and decision making.Assessment for learning should be regarded as a key professional skill for teachers
Teachers require the professional knowledge and skills to: plan for assessment; observe learning; analyse and interpret evidence of learning; give feedback to learners and support learners in self-assessment. Teachers should be supported in developing these skills through initial and continuing professional development.Assessment for learning should be sensitive and constructive because any assessment has an emotional impact
Teachers should be aware of the impact that comments, marks and grades can have on learners' confidence and enthusiasm and should be as constructive as possible in the feedback that they give. Comments that focus on the work rather than the person are more constructive for both learning and motivation.Assessment for learning should take account of the importance of learner motivation
Assessment that encourages learning fosters motivation by emphasising progress and achievement rather than failure. Comparison with others who have been more successful is unlikely to motivate learners. It can also lead to their withdrawing from the learning process in areas where they have been made to feel they are 'no good'. Motivation can be preserved and enhanced by assessment methods which protect the learner's autonomy, provide some choice and constructive feedback, and create opportunity for self-direction.Assessment for learning should promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed
For effective learning to take place learners need to understand what it is they are trying to achieve - and want to achieve it. Understanding and commitment follows when learners have some part in deciding goals and identifying criteria for assessing progress. Communicating assessment criteria involves discussing them with learners using terms that they can understand, providing examples of how the criteria can be met in practice and engaging learners in peer and self-assessment.Learners should receive constructive guidance about how to improve
Learners need information and guidance in order to plan the next steps in their learning. Teachers should:Assessment for learning develops learners' capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self-managing
Independent learners have the ability to seek out and gain new skills, new knowledge and new understandings. They are able to engage in self-reflection and to identify the next steps in their learning. Teachers should equip learners with the desire and the capacity to take charge of their learning through developing the skills of self-assessment.Assessment for learning should recognise the full range of achievements of all learners
Assessment for learning should be used to enhance all learners' opportunities to learn in all areas of educational activity. It should enable all learners to achieve their best and to have their efforts recognised.
Related Links
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- The 10 principles for AfL poster
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